The ACU track and field team headed to the Texas Tech Invitational and Multis as distance runners flew to Pittsburg State Invitational, racking up personal bests across the board.

“So many great things happened, at Tech it was multiple personal bests and multiple top ten ACU performances, overall really exciting,” said head coach Jerrod Cook.

The distance runners traveled to Pittsburg State, led by Levi Chambers, who competed in the men’s 5k, and Irene Rono, won the 3k improving her time. Now, both runners hold a first-place ranking in the WAC rankings. 

The success at Texas Tech did not slow down for ACU, as the teams men’s hurdles all got personal records, including Jonathan Ply, a junior from Dayton, Nevada, who participated in the heptathlon. He achieved five personal bests in his events.

“I am super thrilled on how I did, it’s been a long time coming,” said Ply. “I have never had this many PR in the span of two days.”

The preparation and training the team does has set each weekend’s meet up for success. Ply said being able to reflect on a performance in a healthy way helps the team find success and motivation every week to head to training.

Ply was voted on by his fellow teammates and coaches as a captain for the team. As a captain, he works to help set the standard that Cook instills on each athlete.

“Everyone encourages and helps each other out, this helps bring our team super close and it is helping in a big way mentally,” Ply said.

As the conference meet quickly approaches, coach Cook wants to make sure each athlete is trained and prepared for where they need to be, plus, wants to continue to see improvement across the board for his team.

“Everyone is better than they were last year, and we’ve had a great year building on it, but we are not done yet,” said Cook.

The indoor track and field team will compete in the Charles Thomas Invitational and Multis at Texas A&M from Feb. 4 through Feb. 5, where Cook hopes to see everyone’s hard work pay off.